TIME is running smoothly again in Caterham - for now - after a clock tower which has been puzzling people by showing the wrong time was finally fixed.

Situated in the middle of the roundabout near Caterham railway station, the multi-sided clock has been continually malfunctioning over the past six months, with one face running too fast and another stopping completely.

Tony Rispoli, a resident of Mount Pleasant Road. explained that it had caused problems for people going to catch trains.

He said: "It has been showing the wrong time for several weeks. It's caused some panic when walking to the station."

Carol Millwood, a resident of Caterham-on-the-Hill, said she had given up taking any notice of the time on the clock as it was unreliable.

She said: "I knew it wasn't working so I didn't take any notice of it. I'm very pleased that it is now fixed. It's very bad feng shui to have a clock not working, it's like time isn't flowing properly."

A spokesperson for Caterham Parish Council said the clock had been fixed every four to six weeks due to it continually breaking.

She said: "They keep coming to collect it and then it goes again. Sometimes it can work for three months then other times it's a few weeks."

Gerry Winyard, operations manager for Gillet and Johnstons, the company which fixes the clock, explained that the latest issue was with electrical connections becoming corroded.

He said: "Water had leaked into the tower and the connections into each dial had rusted. We replaced them and hopefully it is now tickity-boo."

Mr Winyard explained that there had also been problems with people climbing up the tower and forcing the clock hands round, as well as heavy rain getting into the mechanisms.

He said: "Water gets everywhere over the years, condensation and heavy rain can build up. Initially it was the hands getting moved around, it isn't uncommon, basically people were climbing up and grabbing them and forcing the hands around. I know that's happened in the past."

And he added: "There are multiple reasons why things have happened but we try to rectify it as quick as possible, We will be monitoring it as we always do, but being a clock, working 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, things do wear and break at any time."